UNCLE FRANK A film review by Steve Rhodes Copyright 2002 Steve Rhodes RATING (0 TO ****): ** 1/2
All of us probably have an Uncle Frank, a beloved relative whose feisty, outspoken nature was forever endearing. For me, it was my Uncle Robert, whom I'll never forget. For filmmaker Matthew Ginsburg, it was his uncle, whose full name was appropriately Frank Pour. In UNCLE FRANK, we get to meet the poor in finances but rich in spirit Uncle Frank. He and his wife, Aunt Tilly, manage to draw pleasure from the simple things in life, like the crystal in their living room that provides ever moving rainbows on their walls.
The film starts off spiritedly with Frank in fine form, talking about his own burial. "I want to be buried in the cheapest box," he tells us, and, then he goes on, "I want to be buried face down so the rest of the world can kiss my butt."
The opening, however, turns out to have most of the best lines, and the movie begs to have been released as a short film. Although Frank fires off another great line late in the film -- "All a nursing home is is a waiting room for the undertaker." -- most of the documentary consists of him playing music at various nursing homes and engaging in the minutia of life, such as gas fill-ups. Frank prefers to drive over a dozen miles out of the way in order to save five cents a gallon on gas by buying it at an Indian reservation.
I came to love Frank, but I would have liked the movie a lot more if it had been about a half hour long since the good footage would have easily fit within that length.
UNCLE FRANK runs 1:25. It is not rated but would be R for nudity and would be acceptable for kids around 12 and up.
The film does not yet have a United States release date. It will be playing as part of the 45th annual San Francisco International Film Festival (http://www.sfiff.org), which runs April 18 to May 2, 2002.
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